Caitlyn rolled her eyes when she listened to her messages on her cell phone as she stood outside the high school gymnasium. She had been hoping that she would hear back from the vendor that was working on her prom dress only to find out that they were out of the fabric needed to make it. The store said they would call her back with a progress report but so far...nothing.

What was she going to do?

And with prom countdown to the final 14 days, that had barely left her enough time to find a dress. She had already bought herself some shoes on sale at the trendy boutique on Pearl Street and now the dress that was supposed to match might not be ready in time for her big night.

Hopefully there would still be some cool looking gowns at the main street outlets by this weekend. She hadn't paid the other dressmaker so she still had some cash from her last 4H sale to finish out her prom getup. Hopefully in time for her date to pick her up to take her to the Grand Maguire Hotel, ground zero for prom night.

She walked over to the baseball diamond to watch her boyfriend and prom date practicing a couple of hours with his teammates. Alicia sat up on the bleachers already with a couple of girls who were with her on the cheer leading squad. Caitlyn walked up the steps to join them as they watch the varsity players out on the field. She looked out and saw her boyfriend, Kevin out on the field talking with some other players

"He looks smoking in those tights," one girl named Kimberly said.

Alicia snorted.

"Those aren't tights and don't call them that where anyone can hear you."

Caitlyn looked at her watch. She had about an hour before she had to head back to where she lived with her aunt and uncle outside Wild Fork and start feeding the horses and goats. She'd be hitching a ride with her neighbor and long-time friend Ethan who was also out there suited up as a catcher to her pitcher boyfriend. Her truck had been at the shop getting its radiator fixed so she'd been carpooling with him.

"Kevin's looking pretty good out there," Alicia commented, "Caitlyn you sure know how to pick them."

Caitlyn didn't pay her much mind because she didn't pick Kevin as her boyfriend just because of his looks, certainly not mostly although she did think he looked pretty hot being a jock with curly blond hair and blue eyes that matched the summer sky. They met when he had needed a tutor to pass history and she had been matched up with him by the student tutoring program.

She on the other hands didn't need any help with her studies. She had a full ride to Stanford University where she planned to study pre-law and economics before heading off to law school probably back East at an Ivy League. Kevin had been given a football scholarship to Arizona State up north. It hadn't been his first choice but then his grades hadn't been that great except in history.

Kevin had asked her out on a date not long after he had passed his first history exam in a couple of years. She had been surprised that he had asked but she had accepted and they had gone out to a movie. Something about zombies running amok in San Francisco and she had a good time out with him. He had seemed interested in her and had been funny, when he asked her out again, she accepted.

And four months later, they had been an item. They walked the hallways together and sat together in assemblies and when they had lunch at the same time. And she often showed up to watch his practices when she had spare time from being president of the student council and captain of the debate team. Sometimes he'd grumbled that she was too busy to spend time to him but she'd remind him that it took two to make time for one another.

But lately she had more work to do on her uncle's ranch and spent a couple hours each night doing chores before even starting her homework. Honestly there were not enough hours in the day to do everything.

At least her friend Ethan understood coming from a similar background but he had just broken up with his latest girlfriend, Crystal and didn't appear to be concerned that he didn't have a prom date.

Not that he should be because any girl on the campus would go out with him in a heartbeat because he was ruggedly handsome for a high school senior because he had worked outdoors most of his life. He'd been lanky a few years ago but had started filling out with muscle since then and had grown a couple of inches. Dark hair that didn't quite curl just sitting off of his collar…a lot of girls liked his looks.

But he was smart too mixing his athletic prowess with academic success pretty well, and that had awarded him a scholarship to UC Berkeley…which meant he'd be going to college pretty close to her. Though they had to finish up their final year of high school first but that was mostly done, and there wasn't much on the final list to check off except the prom, final exams and graduation.

Right now, Ethan was talking to the coach about the fastballs that Kevin had been sending right into his chest plate. Something about being a little low, but Kevin just shrugged it off and went back to the mound.

"What's the problem," Alicia said, "They look fine to me…the players anyway."

"Kevin's corkscrews aren't working," Kimberly noted, "He looks a bit wound up."

Caitlyn didn't see anything wrong except that the tension that had always been there between the two players had reared up again. She didn't know why Ethan didn't seem to really like Kevin that much. When she asked him, he'd never explain why.

With the players back in their appropriate positions, Alicia switched to a more important topic.

"So did you get your prom dress?"

Kimberly sighed.

"My mom promised to give me her card but totally bailed. So I'm wearing my sister's dress."

Alicia shrugged.

"She did win prom queen with that dress but it's so two years ago."

"Yeah," Kimberly said, "That's what I told her and she gave me some story about having to babysit for a year to earn enough money for her dress and shoes...back in her day."

Alicia turned to Caitlyn.

"What about your dress?"

Caitlyn kept her eyes focused on Kevin who was throwing some more warm up pitches to Ethan.

"The dressmaker couldn't get the fabric in time so I'm going shopping this weekend."

Alicia shook her head.

"There won't be anything left…the truly desperate wait until the weekend. You should be combing the shops right now."

Caitlyn shook her head.

"I can't…Ethan's taking me back home. I got chores I got to do."

Alicia chuckled.

"I could think of worse things than sharing a car ride with that guy," she said, "He's sexy if you like outdoorsy and he hasn't got a date to prom since that blowup with Crystal so that puts him on the market"

Kimberly made a face.

"You know how badly Crystal wants to be prom queen and she'll do anything to get that tiara. Even try to get back with him."

Caitlyn didn't think that seemed likely because Ethan hadn't been all that distressed about the breakup and truth be told, he was better off without Crystal who complained about everything when he had brought her to a couple of the barbecues at his father's ranch.

She had gotten sick of the Crystal's whining too and had wanted to smack her a few times. Ethan had this habit of hooking up with high maintenance chicks who constantly asked for his approval. Hopefully, the next girl he met up with would be cut from a different mold but she doubted it.

Ethan looked up at her almost as if he knew he crossed her mind and she gave him a smile. He nodded and put his catcher mask back on and crouched for another punishing pitch by Kevin.

"I might ask Ethan out," Kimberly said finally, "If Derek doesn't get his act together."

Caitlyn wondered if that was likely considering that as shortstop, he had made two errors just during practice. But Ethan could do much worse than Kimberly.

Alicia turned towards them.

"I've got a great idea…why don't we all head to prom together…rent a couple of limos and head on out?"

Kimberly nodded.

"That might work as long as we don't leave together."

Alicia smirked.

"Pete's already booked us a room on the top floor of the hotel…for after prom activities."

Kimberly giggled.

"I'm planning to do the same with whatever leftover I snag if Derek doesn't call me back."

Caitlyn remained silent but she had her own plans with Kevin after the dance wound down and yeah, it involved booking a room at the hotel. She would tell her uncle and aunt she was staying in town with a friend. That's what she usually did when the two of them got together.

That plan would work…if she could just find the perfect dress.

Across the street from the school, a SUV with some fender damage sat parked while a lone man sat in the car watching the women watching the baseball players. He would have to ditch this car pretty soon as he had been doing the past couple of days since he walked out of lockup at a facility a couple hundred miles away from Wild Fork.

As he watched the women in the stands watching the baseball players in the field, he thought of his own plan to set in motion.

On Prom Night, two weeks away.